What are You FPV Drone Racing With and Why?

Drone racing continues to grow and evolve and with that comes a slew of drone racing airframes to choose from. There are so many different drones and options that making a choice on what to buy can be a daunting task. We want to help with that.

A Thread for Picking Out the Perfect FPV Drone Racer

Drone racing continues to grow and evolve and with that comes a slew of drone racing airframes to choose from. There are so many different drones and options that making a choice on what to buy can be a daunting task. We wanted this article to help with that by asking the community what you are racing with and why. Are you using an X, Plus or Stretch? What size do you prefer? Which brand and frame do you like and why do you like it? Do you have any other thoughts or reasons why you picked your airframe?

This isn't about the electronics, that's another article, this is purely about which drone racing frame you use. If you still haven't found the perfect drone racing frame, even after reading the replies to this thread, what are the things on your wish list that doesn't exist yet? I'm really looking forward to hearing from you guys and what you think. There are no wrong answers here, just tell us what you are racing with and why.

I'm still very happy with my zmr250 frame ! ! Looks nice compact enough and good space inside to work with, i don't like the box style square drones that much but nothing wrong with them, they are compact. and lighter ? if that wins races then i guess thats the way to go but my ZMR looks just right ! Besides with carbon, anything can be light

What would be a major benefit to have in future is a compact, easy to install and configure gps solution, for RTH for when i would like to do some country trekking, every once in a while, it will also just be nice to have it in case of video feed loss !!!! like dji put in their bigger drones, the gps unit in those drones are there, but you don't see them. Nice !

So build a frame that would have a "compartment" / "area" for a compact gps. And then get companies to build those gps components.

Tried stretch, and "true" x. Didn't really find that the stretch did anything that actually helped my fly faster. TPU pods are too squishy, and look like they're unfinished. Took me many, many frames to figure out what really worked for me. In the end, the Bolt RC Kraken Worx is about the best frame I've found.

Arms:
A carbon foam sandwich that is stupidly strong. If you happen to break one, it's usually the foam inside the arm. This can be quickly fixed with thin CA and flown for the remainder of the race day. Only thing I would change is to have 16mmx16mm for the motor mount rather than 19mm only.

Pod:
The 1.5mm pod that comes with the kit is just a tad too weak for the hard hits. I swap it out for the 2mm version. Super aerodynamic, and crazy strong. Keeps most of the internals free from dirt/dust/other prop blades (nothing can save a camera from a direct hit). Really great.

The kit provided hardware doesn't play nice with my MIP tools, so I replace it with good ol' 12.9 steel. I also use a micro camera with an adapter mount. The micro cams are soo good these days, there's no reason not to use one.

I'm an uncoordinated beginner with FPV. I also don't want to screw with matching up parts, customization, or time consuming repairs. I bought and tried too many quads and became disgusted with the amount of time I spend on the bench compared to the amount of time I actually got to fly. Rather than learning how to fly quads I was learning that I was as impatient as my kids say I am.

Then I bought aViFly R130. This little quad is affordable, very rugged, and fly's very well. My flight time to repair time has dramatically changed. In fact, the only repair I've had to make on this in nearly a year was that the antenna mount came unscrewed after many many flights. I had to partially disassemble it in order to properly tighten the SMA connection and BOOM - back in the air.

This is NOT the quad for somebody intent on racing - but it's ideal for somebody who wants to learn to fly or learn to go fast without the hassle of breakage. While it's responsive - it's also not THAT responsive because it's stout -- which makes it relatively heavy. I've not flown the newer ViFly 150 - but I'm told that it's crazy fast and insanely responsive. Maybe I'll want crazy fast after another season with the R130 - but for now I'm still learning the ropes.

I'm using two frames. A Lisam LS210 frame. It's so cheap. Handy for a budget build. On the other end of the scale, I'm using a Storm Loki X5 frame. I like this because the base plate is 6mm thick (Mine is actually 6.5mm thick). It can take some really good bashing's.

While I'm not a head to head track racer per se, and probably at my age will never be competitive, I do like going fast round a "track" with some aero thrown in!

I have a range of quads from micros to 280. I find increasingly I'm flying the 150/160 size, 3mm props, however, my biggest pair though are an Emax Nighthawk 280, standard apart from Betaflight, usually flown 2200mAh 3S and the other a full on custom which started life as a EMax 250 frame now much modified to low profile and lightened, the most exotic part of which is the 3B-R highest kV motors, which REALLY haul (but on 2300mAh 4S not for long with that much power!). Not the flashest frame, but exceedingly tough and rigid. Both are good Mobius platforms for some "home movie" footage to try and convince myself I'm not past it (which sometimes works!!)

I fly 2 frames currently. Use a QAV-R for more freestyle, and a custom stretched-X for racing. Older pictures of custom frame attached. Using a 4mm carbon unibody bottom plate. It weighs ~200g more than the QAV-R (350g vs 550g), but its great for racing.